1 Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing method and apparatus having a compact input device such as a pen type input device.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, an apparatus using a battery as a power supply has a function of preventing abrupt interruption of the use of the apparatus due to an insufficient battery voltage by informing the remaining battery energy amount of the power supply battery. The information of the remaining battery energy amount is realized by changing an ON pattern of LEDs, provided to the apparatus using the battery, in accordance with the remaining battery energy amount, or displaying a message or a mark on a display device of the apparatus using the battery.
However, in order to inform the remaining battery energy amount, LEDs or a display device is necessary, and such LEDs or a display device is normally assembled only in a relatively large-scale apparatus.
However, a computer apparatus having a compact input device such as a pen input device as an input unit has no device for informing the remaining battery energy amount of a power supply battery arranged in the input unit. For this reason, a user cannot know a decrease in battery energy amount until the battery is used up. Therefore, the battery energy is abruptly cut off, resulting in inconvenience for the user.
When the remaining battery energy amount is to be displayed using the above-mentioned technique, the device itself becomes large in size. When the above-mentioned technique is applied to a pen input device which is normally held by hand in use, the pen input device is not easy to use.
Conventionally, an information processing apparatus such as a computer is normally equipped with a keyboard or an equivalent input device. When such information processing apparatuses are used in, e.g., an office, they are exclusively used by individual users, or they are distributed to users when the users come in the office, and are recovered when the users leave the office, i.e., they are semi-exclusively used by the individual users. In the former case, each user stores his or her own information in the information processing apparatus, and must protect such information from other users. In the latter case, if a user uses different information processing apparatuses day by day, he or she must be able to easily acquire his or her own information from, e.g., a center computer using the information processing apparatus.
In such a system, a method of specifying a user by inputting a password such as an alphabet character string inherent to each user in the information processing apparatus so as to identify each user is popularly used.
When an information processing apparatus which does not comprise a keyboard is utilized, a virtual keyboard is displayed on the screen in place of the keyboard, and a name or password is input via the virtual keyboard using a hand-writing input device so as to specify a user.
An information processing apparatus comprising a hand-writing input device is easy to use for a beginner since no keyboard is equipped. However, when a name or password is input using the hand-writing information processing apparatus, the virtual keyboard must be displayed to urge a user to be conscious of the keyboard, and one of merits of the apparatus which comprises no keyboard, i.e., to exclude specialty of a keyboard, is lost. Hand-writing character input may be undesirably watched by a third party, and may be erroneously recognized by the apparatus, resulting in troublesome operations. Thus, hand-writing character input lacks safety, stability, and convenience.
Furthermore, an information processing apparatus such as a recent compact personal computer normally has a resume function. With this function, a state upon completion of a certain process can be held, and when the power supply switch is turned on again, the previous state upon completion of the process can be resumed, This function makes the apparatus easy to use. In this case, the reboot operation of the power supply is also processed as continuation of the previous process. Unless a new operator is identified by inputting, e.g., a password, the information processing apparatus can be continuously used by everyone even if an exclusive user is absent, thus posing a problem of data security.